Last week, Skechers (SKX) presented at UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference, giving interesting updates on the status of their business and their expectations for the future. I think its worth refreshing our view of the stock and its attractiveness.

Skechers has lived mome

Best Value Stocks To Own For 2017

I last wrote about magicJack (NASDAQ:CALL) on January 27th, 2016, describing how the business was a) highly free cash flow generative, b) supremely capitalized, c) pursuing several low-risk growth opportunities, and d) valued at insanely low multiples. Today, one year later, all four of the above remain true. And yet much has happened in the intervening 12 months.

$40M acquisition of UCaaS provider Broadsmart

Less than two months after my previous article, magicJack announced its acquisition of Broadsmart, a provider of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), for $38M in cash and $2M in CALL stock. UCaaS is a fancy way of saying that Broadsmart sells cloud-based telephony services to medium-to-large enterprise customers with multiple (often hundreds or thousands) of office or brand locations. In 2015, Broadsmart did $13M in revenue and $4.6M in EBITDA (35% margin), implying a purchase price of 9x EBITDA. Broadsmart’s founders, Todd Correll and Tom Tharri ngton, will remain as CEO and President of Broadsmart, respectively.

Best Value Stocks To Own For 2017: Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (VLKAY)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]

Harman understands the importance of cloud services. Its 2015 acquisition of Symphony Teleca adds to its cloud capabilities. Its connected services business segment include the operating results of Symphony Teleca, Red Bend and its automotive services businesses. According to Harman, this segment creates software solutions that integrate design, mobility, cloud and analytics and brings the benefits of the connected world to the automotive, retail, mobile, healthcare, media and consumer electronics markets. The customers in this segment includes BMW, Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIY), the Volkswagen Group (OTCPK:VLKAY), Jaguar Land Rover, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), British Telecom and Polycom (NASDAQ:PLCM).

[By John Rosevear]

In terms of production, Audi’s electric-vehicle effort is supported by corporate parent Volkswagens (NASDAQOTH:VLKAY) aggressive, big-budget move toward electric vehicles. Nearly all of VW’s brands are known to have long-range electric vehicles under development. Audi’s economies of scale (via VW) could well eclipse Tesla’s by early next decade.

[By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]

2019 going into 2020 is when autonomous cars start to ramp. Let’s look at some of the industry news bits:

NuTonomy to expand self-driving taxi service to 10 cities around the world by 2020 (Source: Yahoo News) Delphi (NYSE:DLPH) and Mobileye to provide off-the-shelf self-driving system by 2019 (Source: TheVerge) Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) expects first self-driving cars on the market by 2019 (Source: Focus) Ford’s head of product development: autonomous vehicle on the market by 2020 (Source: Auto News) Baidu’s (NASDAQ:BIDU) chief scientist expects a large number of self-driving cars on the road by 2019 (Source: Quora) First autonomous Toyota to be available in 2020 (Source: Wired.com) Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY) to provide fully autonomous vehicles by 2020 (Source: Nissan Motors) Sergey Brin plans to have Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) driverless car in the market by 2018 (Source: Driverless car market watch)

There is a clear trend here. Most players in the space pla n on really ramping after 2019 going into 2020. Let’s assume Tesla can hit its 500k goal after 2018, in 2019, it would have 1.2mm autonomous capable cars on the road vs. a 4.4mm installed base or 27% of the global base. Then, in 2020, Tesla would have 1.7mm autonomous capable cars vs. a base of 10mm or 17% of the global base. You may think that Tesla is starting to look less impressive. That’s not really the case when you factor in that automakers make about 75mm cars a year globally. Tesla will still have a larger percentage of the autonomous fleet in 2020 than Toyota’s percentage of the entire global automotive fleet at around 15%. With that being said, I do think 2019-2020 is when Tesla’s chokehold on the autonomous vehicle fleet will start to come under pressure. Tesla needs to figure out how to ramp to Ford, Nissan or Honda (NYSE:HMC) type production levels to maintain its dominance. Is that even possible?

[By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

Volkswagen AG (VLKAY) shares were under pressure Wednesday after prosecutors searched the headquarters of its Audi Group division as part of an ongoing probe into the use of ‘cheat devices’ in diesel emissions engines.

[By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]

Historically, FCA has been very strong in the small car sector in Europe. This continues with the Fiat “Panda” and Fiat 500 enjoying a market-dominating 29.4% share of the small car market. The diesel emissions scandal affecting traditional small car rival Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY) has no doubt helped Fiat.

Best Value Stocks To Own For 2017: The Baltic Dry Index Soaring, and Double Crown Resources (DDCC)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Matthew Briar]

It’s not only a scenario that bodes well for an up-and-coming company Double Crown Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:DDCC).

What if there were a way to remove all the risks and hassle of shipping things like pellets or beans or salt [which are normally delivered in drybulk vessels] but still utilize all the flexibility of intermodal containers… the big box containers that are just at home on the deck of a ship as they are on a flatbed truck as they are on a train car? There is. It’s called Translock2 (Translock Squared), and it’s going to revolutionize the way many material companies deliver their goods. Commodity companies now have an alternative way of shipping their product without constantly handling it – and losing some of it – en route to its final destination.

The nearby image is a Translock2 container. If it looks vaguely familiar to most, it’s essentially an intermodal container in terms of size and shape, but mechanically serves as delivery and dispensing platform for drybulk goods like rice, fertilizer, etc. The design allows commodities to be moved with all the flexib ility of intermodal transportation, but without any of the headache of aggregating and splitting up those goods en route to their final destination. With Translock2, drybulk purchases are packaged up by the seller at the supply source, and then delivered — just as ordered — all the way to the buyer’s site in the container. No muss, no fuss, and no middleman. It cuts down on expenses, and lost material.

Its development worth noting, in that it explicitly circumvents the need for drybulk maritime vessels, and turns intermodal container ships into dry cargo vessels.

The recent unveiling of the Translock 2 containers won’t actually change the amount of drybulk material we as a species consume. But, it will offer dry goods suppliers an easier and often cheaper option to expensive and often difficult dry goods vessel shipping. Remember, the Baltic Dr

[By Matthew Briar]

Despite the conclusions that may be drawn by the renewed weakness of the Baltic Dry Index, demand for commodities isn’t drying up. In fact, most commodities continue to see increased consumption… including the dry goods the Baltic Dry Index is supposed to measure shipping costs for. The Baltic Dry Index is rolling over again simply because as much as the world continues to up their need for materials such as iron ore, grains, and gravel, the market to deliver those goods remains saturated. That is, too many boats, trains and trucks are fighting for the existing level of business, pulling the value of the Baltic Dry Index and other shipping-cost measures lower. After all, the BDI is ultimately just a measure of the daily shipping rates for maritime vessels – it’s not actually a measure of materials consumption.

Not only does a falling Baltic Dry Index not work against young-and-hungry company Double Crown Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:DDCC), it may actually favor it.

Hypothetical question: What if there was a way to remove all the risks and hassle of shipping things like pellets or beans or salt (goods normally delivered in drybulk vessels) yet still utilize all the flexibility of intermodal containers? There is. It’s called Translock2, or Translock Squared, and it’s going to revolutionize the way many material companies deliver their goods, and how users of those goods handle and distribute them.

The nearby picture is a Translock2 container. It should look familiair, in that it’s essentially an intermodal container in terms of size and shape, but mechanically serves as a delivery and dispensing platform for drybulk goods. The design allows commodities like sand or livestock feed to be transported with all the flexibility of intermodal transportation, but without any of the headache of constantly aggregating and splitting up such goods to get them from point A to point B. With Translock2, drybulk purchases are packaged up by the seller at the s

[By Peter Graham]

On Tuesday, small cap Double Crown Resources (OTCMKTS: DDCC) announcedthatthe United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number9,428,330 on the Companys revolutionary Translock虏 bulk commodities system. In addition, two follow-up patent applications have already been filed and another is now being preparedthat all cover key design features of this unparalleled commodity transport and storage system which you can see in pictures below:

[By Matthew Briar]

Don’t let the lethargic Baltic Dry Index fool you — commodities aren’t being used less now than they have been in the past. In fact, most commodities are still seeing increased consumption, including the dry goods the Baltic Dry Index is supposed to gauge transportation for. The Baltic Dry Index remains in a bit of a long-term funk because, as much as the world continues to increase their need for materials like iron ore, grain, and gravel, the world also still has too much capacity to deliver them. See, too many maritime vessels are competing for too few dollars, serving as a drag on the value of the Baltic Dry Index lower. After all, the BDI is mostly just a measure of the daily shipping rates for ocean-born transportation services. It’s not actually a measure of consumption of those materials consumption.

It’s not only a scenario that doesn’t work against young-and-hungry company Double Crown Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:DDCC), but it may actually be a scenario that bodes well for it.

Thought question: What if there was a way to remove all the risks and hassle of shipping goods such as iron ore pellets or beans or salt (commodities that are normally delivered in drybulk vessels) yet still utilize all the flexibility of intermodal containers? There is. It’s called Translock2, or Translock Squared, and it’s going to revolutionize the way many material companies deliver their goods, and the way many drybulk commodity buyers use their material.

The image nearby is a Translock2 container. It should look vaguely familiar. It’s essentially an intermodal container in terms of size and shape, but mechanically is a delivery and dispensing platform for drybulk goods like sand or rice. The design allows commodities like sand gravel or livestock feed to be moved with all the flexibility of intermodal transportation (on flatbed trucks, by rail, and on the deck of a boat but without any of the logistical headache of aggregating and splitti

China Coal Energy Co., the countrys second-largest producer of the fuel, sank 3.1 percent after the government said it will cut coal consumption. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. (16), the worlds second-biggest developer, fell 1.4 percent after trimming its sales target. Gold producers led materials companies lower as the precious metal headed for its steepest weekly loss since June amid expectations the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee will next week decide to reduce stimulus.

Some biotech stocks have made shareholders a lot of money over the last decade. Few, though, have performed as well as Opko Health (NASDAQ:OPK), Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY), and China Biologic Products (NASDAQ:CBPO). These three biotech stocks turned an initial investment of $10,000 into more than $100,000 in just 10 years. Here’s how they did it.

[By Paul Ausick]

Opko Health Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK) dropped nearly 15% on Thursday to record a new 52-week low of $7.13 against a high of $12.15. The stock closed at $8.37 on Wednesday. Volume was more than 3 times the daily average of around 4.9 million shares. The company reported a worse-than-expected loss after markets closed last night.

[By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

As for individual stocks, Cabela’s (NYSE:CAB) and Opko Health (NASDAQ:OPK) stood out by posting greater price declines than the broader market.

Opko Health fails a trial

Opko Health shares slumped 19% after the biotech announced disappointing results for one of its most advanced clinical trials. The human growth hormone injection, coded as hGH-CTP, failed to produce a statistically significant improvement over a placebo pill in its phase 3 study.

[By Cory Renauer]

Shares of multinational pharmaceutical and diagnostics companyOpko Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK)are feeling the heat after reporting fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 earnings. Despite a major thumping late last year, the stock gave up another 10.5% as of 3:31 p.m. on Thursday.

If one is to truly allege that the digital asset is little more than a massive ploy to defraud unwitting investors of their money, la Bernie Madoff, then one must admit that the entire stock market itself is one giant hustle, too.

Last week, Skechers (SKX) presented at UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference, giving interesting updates on the status of their business and their expectations for the future. I think its worth refreshing our view of the stock and its attractiveness.

In the last few weeks, we have seen two high profile unicorns file for initial public offerings. The first out of the gate was Dropbox (Pending:DBX), a storage solution for a world where gigabyte files are the rule rather than the exception, with a filing on February 23. Following close after,

U.S. stock futures moved sharply higher on Monday, indicating Wall Street may extend gains seen late last week after data showed a strong increase in jobs created, but weaker-than-forecast wages. Dow futures